


Safe Hands

by myrmidryad



Series: Ordinal [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Birthday Sex, Canon Disabled Character, Communication, Crying, F/M, M/M, Multi, Platonic Romance, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Threesome - F/M/M, but in a cathartic way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:55:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22136671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrmidryad/pseuds/myrmidryad
Summary: Alex hesitated. “You know how when we started this, we said no threesomes?”Maria’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. You wanna give Michael athreesomefor his birthday?”
Relationships: Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Ordinal [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593349
Comments: 31
Kudos: 126





	Safe Hands

**Author's Note:**

> The smutty, smutty epilogue to We Were Bound To Get Together! Dedicated to [Larenoz](https://larenoz.tumblr.com/) for her really amazing and touching [rec post](https://larenoz.tumblr.com/post/190051393627/fic-rec) for said fic, because it made me come over all gooey and emotional. :')
> 
> The title of this fic and the series both come from the poem Ordinal by merritt k, which I couldn't find online anywhere, so I've put it in the end notes.

Maria wasn’t usually the sort of person to care much about anniversaries or birthdays or holidays like Christmas. Holidays were the things she cared about more, purely from a business standpoint. She kept the Wild Pony open on Christmas and New Year’s Eve and she made a very good profit doing so, and she didn’t care at all about not having the time off. She’d never had people she’d wanted to spend that time with anyway, until now, and even now those people didn’t mind that she worked instead.

On New Year’s Eve, all her friends were at the Pony anyway, and when the ball dropped she found herself attacked on both sides by Alex and Michael, both pressing wet kisses to her cheeks to make her squeal. In the midst of the shouting and laughter, she’d thrown her head back and laughed with them, letting Alex and Michael share their kiss before dropping one on each of their mouths too, happier than she could ever remember being for a New Year’s kiss.

She’d made a note of the day of their first negotiation session so they could count it as an anniversary if they wanted, and they did celebrate by cooking a meal together (moussaka this time), complete with dessert (some sort of dense, delicious orange cake), watching another episode of the show they were currently working their way through (The Expanse), and crowding together into Maria’s bed.

Alex’s cabin was nicer now that he’d finally allowed Michael free reign to make all the improvements he wanted (Michael had actually moved his Airstream out there for a couple of months so Alex had somewhere to sleep while he tore down walls and moved things around), but they still tended to default to Maria’s more often than not.

Birthdays had never been something Maria cared about much for herself, but she found herself thinking about them a lot more now she had people to get presents for. Alex was a summer baby, but she and Michael were both autumn children. Though as Michael pointed out dryly whenever it came up, he didn’t actually have an Earth birthday at all, and the date had been picked at random by the same person who had given him his name. Random assignments of letters and numbers that ultimately meant nothing.

Alex and Maria had agreed in private that this was clearly a smokescreen, and had teamed up to get Michael a new telescope. Michael could say the day meant nothing all he liked, but he teared up when they presented him with the wrapped box, and kept muttering thank yous until they got him between them and cuddled him quiet.

So, birthdays meant something these days. Which meant Maria wasn’t entirely shocked when she got to Alex’s one Sunday after finishing up at the Pony, and he used Michael’s absence (he was spending time with Max) to bring up Michael’s birthday.

“It’s not for a whole month,” Maria said, flopping down on the couch. The cabin really was much better now Michael had made his upgrades. He’d ripped out the porch and joined up the main cabin with what had been the shed and turned it into a decent-sized bathroom, and then destroyed the tiny original bathroom and added that space into the bedroom. It had made a surprising amount of difference, and such big changes had relaxed something in Alex that had been holding onto the cabin as it had once been, and he’d started making his own changes too. Mainly decorative – the living room wasn’t so crowded anymore, the bulky wooden furniture replaced with smaller, slimmer versions that weren’t so low to the ground. Alex had mounted a TV on one wall and fiddled with the electrics so the lights were now on the walls and ceilings, not the floor taking up valuable space.

It was actually a pleasant place to spend time now, and Alex fit better in it.

“I had an idea that you might say no to, so I wanted time to change direction if necessary.”

Maria raised her eyebrows, starting to smile. “I smell shenanigans. What’re you planning?”

Alex came round to sit in what she thought of as his armchair. It looked severe, but was surprisingly comfortable. He didn’t smile back. “Nothing yet,” he said slowly. “It’s just an idea.”

“You’ve said that like three times now, spill.”

Alex hesitated. “You know how when we started this, we said no threesomes?”

Maria’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. You wanna give Michael a _threesome_ for his birthday?”

Alex winced. “Is that weird?”

“I think he’ll die on the spot of happiness,” Maria laughed. “No, I think it’s a great idea.”

“Really?”

She nodded, leaning forward and starting to actually think about it. “It could either be the hottest thing in the world, or the most awkward thing any of us have ever experienced.”

“Yeah.” He gave her a sort of wry half-smile. “That’s another reason for the month’s notice.”

“You wanna choreograph it?” Maria guessed.

“Not…exactly. But if we did this, we’d have to figure out what we’re doing and how beforehand, I think. And establish some rules.”

“You love rules,” Maria smiled, and Alex rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop himself smiling too.

“Yeah, I do, bite me. Would you want to try going in blind on this?”

“Oh hell no.” Maria snorted. “That would be a disaster waiting to happen.”

“Then quit teasing me for being a planner.”

“Hey, I love that you’re a planner!” Maria nudged his good foot with hers. “You plan, Michael’s spontaneous, I sit comfortably in the middle.”

Alex grinned at her. “You do, don’t you?”

“I stand in the middle of the seesaw.” She smiled back at him and leaned back on the couch again. “But hey, stay on topic. How do you wanna do this?”

Alex licked his lips and laced his fingers together on his knees. “I’m not sure.”

“Wait, can I get that in writing?” Maria grinned, and snickered when he kicked her gently. It had taken a long time for Alex to allow her – and Michael, to a lesser extent – to see him as anything but perfectly put together and prepared for anything.

“There are a lot of options, that’s all I meant,” he said. “And I thought asking you first would be better, so we can know what limits you have.”

She nodded slowly. “I’ve never even thought about it. I always thought it’d be one of those things you’d never, ever want to do.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.” Alex looked down at his hands, frowning slightly. “It’s…I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to, you know,” Maria said, suddenly worried. “Michael’s wouldn’t expect it or anything.”

Alex smiled, glancing up at her. “I know. That’s one of the reasons I want to. You both – you know, neither of you have ever pushed me in that direction, not once. You didn’t even care I kept Michael between us the first few times we shared a bed.”

Maria shrugged, bemused. “It seemed like the arrangement that made the most sense.”

“He’d like this,” Alex said calmly. “And I wouldn’t mind it. What about you?”

Maria thought about it. “I think I fall closer to the wouldn’t mind it end of the spectrum. It kind of depends, I guess. I really don’t want it to feel like I’m getting in the way of you and Michael, or you’re getting in the way of us. Like, how far are we going with this? Full threesome but sex only with Michael? Because I don’t think I could go further than kissing with you.”

Alex shook his head immediately. “Yeah, definitely not. No.” A little spasm of discomfort flickered across his face, and Maria raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, and that’s not a look that I’d wanna see in the bedroom.”

He nodded. “I get that. I think the key is to focus entirely on Michael, so neither of us feel left out at any point.”

“Totally overwhelm him,” Maria agreed, starting to smile again. “He likes that.”

Alex nodded. “We’ve never really talked about…what he’s like in bed with us, with each other.”

“I always thought it’d break the ‘no talking about each other behind each other’s backs’ rule.”

“Yeah, same. I think it’d make things easier though, to figure out what would work best.”

“Well we’ll have to give Michael a heads up,” Maria said practically. “I mean, he has to say yes, for a start.”

“You really think he’ll say no?” Alex raised an eyebrow, and Maria smiled.

“Well no, but we need to check anyway. It’d be a bit much to spring on anyone, even Michael.”

“You wanna pause this till after we’ve asked him?”

“Yeah, I think so. Just to be sure. And because we’ll have to talk about what he likes with each of us in bed with each other, and he might freak out at that.” She knew she would have hated it, if she’d been the one in Michael’s position, but Michael had always been comfortably shameless.

“I think he’ll be okay with it. But he should be here soon, right?”

“Better not ask him tonight,” she said. “It’ll end up getting horny and weird.”

Alex let out a surprised laugh, but nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll ask him tomorrow?”

“Yeah, and then if he gives us the go-ahead, we can plan then. Is a month too much advance notice?”

Alex shrugged. “You know me. Better over than underprepared.”

“Your life’s motto.”

“Bite me.”

Michael’s reaction was, predictably, positive. If they’d been in a cartoon, Maria thought he would have had a spontaneous nosebleed. She only heard about it second hand, but Alex laughed a little bit as he told her and she could picture it well enough. Michael had stuttered, apparently. The next time he saw her, at the Pony, he leaned his elbows on the bar and beckoned her forward until he could kiss her, slow and sweet until Luce whistled at them.

“You’re sure too?” he murmured as they parted, and she nodded, blushing from the PDA. 

“I’m sure. Now don’t make me kick you out for public indecency.” She swatted his shoulder and he laughed as he sat down. 

So it was decided, and Alex came over hers a few mornings later to have breakfast with her and continue the conversation they’d started.

“He’s given us his blessing, so to speak,” he said dryly over pancakes and fruit. “So now you can say – what’s it like when you two are together?”

“In a word?” She ate a mouthful of pancake and considered the question as she chewed. Alex waited patiently, sipping his coffee. “Fun. You?”

Alex looked down at his plate, lips twisting in a small smile. “Intense.”

“Ooh, hot.” She grinned. “Those are both good, right?”

“Yeah.” He leaned his chin in his hand, visibly turning ideas over in his head. Maria let him and ate more pancake. She could be patient too, and it was his limits she was more concerned about. “Have you thought at all about specifics of what we’d do?”

“I was leaving it up to you, to be honest,” she shrugged. “You sounded like you already had some ideas percolating in that head of yours.”

“Fair assumption,” Alex conceded. “Okay. It feels kinda weird though, like I’m dictating how I think it should go?”

“You’re suggesting,” she said. “I get to veto anything, right? And so will Michael, obviously.”

“Yeah.” He relaxed a fraction. “Okay, well I was kinda thinking…with the idea of keeping the focus completely on Michael, kind of overwhelming him in a good way?”

She started to smile. “Go on.” He didn’t, and she grinned “Alex Manes, are you _blushing?_ ”

He scowled and sat up properly. “I’ve purposefully avoided talking about this with you this whole time, that’s all. It’s a hard habit to break.”

“I can start, if you like?” she offered. “I mean, I can say the word fuck, for a start. As in, I like it when Michael fucks me.”

Alex blinked, clearly going still to hold back some instinctive reaction or another. “Okay,” he said carefully.

“We definitely needed the month,” Maria said dryly. “Can you imagine if we’d just tried this one night? You can’t even hear me saying that without freaking out, can you imagine watching it happen?”

“I have. Imagined it.” Alex frowned down at his plate. “It’s kind of weird, when I have. Because imagining watching Michael fuck someone else is hot, but you’re…”

“A woman and therefore a turn-off?” 

“Kind of?” he said apologetically. “And, y’know, also my best friend, and it’s just…”

“Weird.”

“Yeah. Sorry,” he added quietly.

“Hey, it’s fine,” she said, reaching out to grab his hand. “Seriously, you’re gay – I’m not expecting you to find me attractive in a sexy way.”

“Does kind of make the whole thing awkward though,” he muttered.

“No it doesn’t.” She squeezed his hand. “It’s totally normal. It’s expected – Alex, I expected this. You’re not gonna hurt my feelings by saying you’re not into me. I know that.”

He finally squeezed her hand back, still looking uncomfortable but at least able to give her a small smile. “If I was straight, we’d be married by now.”

She burst into surprised laughter. “Holy shit, didn’t we actually say that once? Like, after we tried kissing that time, or just before?”

He grinned. “Yeah. If I was straight, we’d make a great couple.”

“We kind of got there anyway, when you think about it.” She smiled and let go of him to cut another bite of pancake and pop it into her mouth. “Even if it’s with an intermediary.”

Alex snorted and speared a strawberry from her plate, ignoring her outraged squawk. “Okay. So my idea was to start with blowjobs.”

“Rule,” Maria said at once. “We don’t do the same thing to him.”

He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“If you blow him, I don’t, and if I do, you don’t.”

“No comparisons,” he nodded, understanding. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I was gonna say too – no choices. Like, we can have options if he says no to anything, but no asking him to pick anything in the moment.”

“Definitely no asking him to pick between us.”

“Exactly.”

“Smart.”

“Thanks.” They both grinned at each other and took a second to eat more fruit and pancake, respectively. 

“So, starting with a blowjob, singular,” she said. “What’s the other person doing if one of us is sucking him off?”

“I thought kissing him, maybe, or touching him a lot in places you can’t reach so easy if you’re blowing someone.”

She nodded, picturing it. “If he sat down, one of us sat behind him, the other between his legs? Oh – what’re you gonna do about your leg?”

“Leave it on,” Alex said with the air of someone who’d already thought about it. “Just makes it easier if we’re doing anything new.”

“Yeah, okay.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “I wanna veto something now.”

He raised his eyebrows, but nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I just thought, the obvious – or I don’t know, obvious to me anyway – thing to do is to make a Michael sandwich with him fucking me and you fucking him.” Pink spread across Alex’s cheeks, high up, and Maria decided to be kind and not mention it this time. “But I just think there’s way too much potential for us screwing that up on a first attempt.”

Alex nodded, and his voice was steady even though he was still blushing. “Yeah, I thought that too. I did think the sandwich idea was good though. As much skin contact as possible.”

Maria hummed around her last mouthful of pancake and reached over to take one of Alex’s melon pieces. “Yeah,” she said after swallowing. “I’m with you on that. What’s the best way to do that? Lying down?”

“I thought maybe kneeling?” Alex shrugged a shoulder and moved his plate between them to share what was left of his fruit with her. “If – I, uh. When he’s with you, do you ever, um.” He frowned, looking off somewhere behind her shoulder. “Do you ever fuck him?” he settled on at last, and Maria lifted her chin slowly, waiting for clarification that didn’t come.

“You mean, in the ass?”

Alex sighed like she was the one being difficult. “Yeah.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “No need to sound like that. No, we’ve never done that.”

“Really?”

She laughed at his surprise. “He’s never brought it up, neither have I. He’s still not great at asking for what he wants.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. Well, when it’s us, he likes that.”

“You wanna fuck him kneeling?” Maria said, putting the pieces together from what Alex had already said.

“Yeah. But for you, being in front of him, I didn’t really, well. I don’t really know what you’d want or what you’d like.” He gave her a sort of embarrassed look. “I know more what to expect, with another guy.”

“Parts are all different, huh?” she smirked, and he pretended to throw a grape at her. “I can jerk him off, from that angle. I don’t need to get off in this threesome, you know. It’s about Michael.”

“Seems pretty unfair though, if everyone comes but you,” Alex frowned.

“Yeah but now there’s pressure.” She pointed her fork at him. “And that’s the thing that’ll make it basically impossible for me. Not to mention, I don’t know what it’ll be like with you there. I keep having these vivid memories of revising Bio with you and Liz, and there were diagrams of female genitalia and your reaction was pure disgust. I don’t need that negativity anywhere near me, no offence.”

Alex laughed slightly. “I don’t even remember that.”

“I’m serious!” Maria pointed at him again, then used her fork to take the last bit of melon. “Especially if we’re basically going to be staring into each other’s eyes over Michael’s shoulders, the last thing we need is for you to look too much at me and lose your boner.”

“Wow.” He raised his eyebrows. “Well, if I’m fucking Michael, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“You never know,” she said darkly. “I’m just saying, it might be a good idea to do a couple of trial runs.”

She could almost see Alex’s guards slam up. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t even know what you look like naked,” she said boldly. “I’m pretty sure you don’t know what I look like naked either. That’s probably a good place to start.”

“I’ve seen you topless?” 

“What?” Maria’s voice leapt up at least two octaves. “When?”

Alex laughed. “Truth or dare with Rosa on the roof of the Crashdown. I can’t remember what she dared me to do, but she dared you to take your top off and dared Liz to share a joint with her.”

“Oh my God.” Maria pressed a hand over her heart. “Jesus, Alex.”

“I don’t remember what you looked like, if that helps,” Alex told her, obviously amused.

“It’d probably be better if you did.” She made a face. “Less anxiety-inducing for me.”

“Wait, do you care what I think?” Alex looked mystified enough by the possibility that Maria snorted a laugh, relaxing a little.

“In the sense that there’s a shitty part of me programmed to crave affirmation via positive judgement from literally every human around me? Yeah. And obviously your opinion matters more to me than most people’s.”

Alex kicked her gently under the table. “I can objectively tell you you’re hot, you know.”

“And I appreciate that.” She hated that she wasn’t being entirely facetious, but whatever. “I just think the first time we see each other in what are objectively going to be really vulnerable positions for both of us shouldn’t be when we have a threesome with Michael. When obviously we want it to be about him and for it to go without any hitches.”

Alex ate the last grape. “So what do you suggest? We make your house a temporary nudist colony?”

Maria wrinkled her nose, trying to imagine it. She walked around her bedroom naked before and after showering when it was summer, but never for the sake of it. The idea of just hanging out with Alex, both of them naked, seemed like a recipe for awkwardness. “How about we shower together?” she said, and pursed her lips to bite back a smile when Alex went still again. “Or not.”

“No, it’s a good idea.” He swallowed and nodded. “There’s a defined series of actions and no surprises, and there’s a time limit. No ambiguity when it’s over.”

Maria imagined it. It would still be awkward, but hopefully less so, for all of the reasons Alex had just articulated. “Wanna do it today?”

“I showered this morning.”

“Same.” She shrugged. “We need to do it at some point though.”

Alex sighed. “Tomorrow? I’m not going to the base till midday.”

“Oh, your leg appointment, right?”

“Yeah, first time meeting my new prosthetist.” Alex looked down at his legs and sighed. “Lotta fuss over nothing, as usual.”

“Still not sure about a blade?”

Alex made a face. “Yeah. I’ll talk it over with them, maybe think it through after.” Whatever advantages a blade prosthetic could give him, Alex tended to subtract because of how visible it would be. It was about having weaknesses on show, he’d explained once. He only ever wanted people seeing him at a disadvantage if he’d planned it and planned on using it against them. He allowed it to happen only if he had no choice, or if he really trusted the people he was with.

Maria had stopped counting the number of times she’d seen him without his prosthesis now, but the number still wasn’t high. 

The grab-bars Michael had installed last year weren’t in Maria’s ensuite, but in the main bathroom, which had a tub as well as a shower head. Maria was in the bedroom, pulling her pyjamas off slowly, listening to Alex through the open door. He’d gone straight in and taken his shirt off. “Do you wanna get in first?” she called.

“Nah, go ahead.”

“Okay.” She dropped her pyjama shorts and took a steadying breath before walking in, past Alex and straight into the tub. When she glanced over, Alex was looking back at her, his prosthesis standing alone and his hands on his waistband. She looked away and turned the water on, standing back from the spray until it started to warm up. She’d already put her hair up and under a shower cap, a big flowery one Liz had gotten her for her birthday last year as part of a spa kit. It was hideous, but it was annoyingly perfect for the job, which figured.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Alex shimmied out of his jeans and underwear and folded them both, setting them down on the floor by his leg. He stretched out his foot and stood up on it, twisting gracefully in place and falling backwards to sit on the edge of the bath. He swung his legs over, grabbed the closest metal bar, and pulled himself upright. “Voila,” he said dryly.

Maria turned and stood facing him, tipping her head forward instinctively to keep it out of the water, even with her shower cap protecting her hair. “Scale of one to ten, how weird are you feeling about this right now?”

“Solid nine.” He took a breath. “Possibly an eight point five. You?”

“Yeah, eight or nine for sure.” She turned sideways and closed her eyes as she sluiced water over her face, giving Alex a calculated opportunity to look, without her looking back. She could be a big girl and expose herself first, particularly as she had two legs to stand on.

“Your turn,” she said, opening her eyes and standing to one side. She paused then, suddenly not sure how Alex was going to get from one end of the tub to the other. “Uh…”

“You need to come closer,” he said quietly. “I need to sit again, then swing myself up.”

“Right.” She bit back the urge to give him a pointless apology – she knew he hated that – and just did as he said. Water from her body dripped onto his arms, their bodies less than an inch from touching. “Still at a nine?”

“Closer to an eight.” He leaned back and sat on the edge of the tub again, then reached out and wrapped his hand around the grab bar closer to the shower and pulled himself up again. “If you weren’t here,” he said casually, “I’d probably just have crawled or slid on my ass.”

“You’d have to be around a two on the awkward scale to do that in front of me, right?”

“Zero, more like.” He kept his back to her as he ducked his head under the shower, holding onto the bar with one hand. Maria watched as he scrubbed his free hand through his hair to wet it, and let her eyes follow the water down. Alex really was gorgeous. She’d thought it before, but his shoulders and back were to die for, and his ass was incredible too. The sudden end of his right leg was something of a shock after the stereotypical perfection of everything above it. 

“Getting a good look?” he said.

“Isn’t that kind of the point?”

He sighed and held onto the bar with both hands, turning his body around by pivoting on his foot. “Take a good look then.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “If you just want me to tell you you’re hot, you’re not getting that satisfaction.”

It worked. Alex smiled and looked her up and down, quickly. “You’re hot, does that help?”

“Just went up to a ten on the scale, yeah.” She grinned when he barked a laugh. “Can you pass me my razor and the shaving gel?” She’d put them in there last night so she wouldn’t forget.

“Sure.” He turned and paused.

“The green bottle.”

“Right.” He picked both up and handed them to her, and as she took it, looked her up and down again. She did the same, getting a better look at the front of him. He was just as beautiful from this direction, unsurprisingly. She’d always known he was handsome – stupidly good-looking, really – and she’d seen him shirtless before, plenty of times. His dick was uncut, average sized, soft. His pubes looked surprisingly soft too, either trimmed or naturally tidy.

She wondered what he thought of hers, and before she could lose her nerve, asked, “Do you trim down there?”

Another good decision. Alex snorted and picked up her shampoo bottle, keeping his balance with an elbow on the grab-bar as he squeezed a tiny amount into his palm. “Yes. You definitely do.”

“Duh.” She squeezed a big dollop of shaving gel into her own palm and passed the bottle back to Alex before rubbing a couple of little dabs under her arms and then lifting one foot onto the edge of the tub to start spreading it over her leg, working it into a foamy lather. “Remember that month I didn’t shave in high school?”

Alex hummed. “Vaguely.”

“Kind of traumatising, not gonna lie. Being called a gorilla in the changing rooms wasn’t super fun.”

Alex paused, one hand in his soapy hair, the other secure around the bar. “You never told us that.”

“Liz and Rosa knew.” Maria started lathering up her other leg, and decided after a second’s hesitation that she wasn’t shaving anywhere else today. There was only so much intimacy she could handle in one go. “I mean, Liz was actually there, so it was kind of hard to hide it from her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He didn’t sound hurt, just curious, and he started rubbing shampoo into his hair again as Maria picked up her razor and started drawing it in smooth, practiced lines up her leg, rinsing it in the stream of water coming off of Alex’s elbow.

“You had enough going on. Kyle and Tom and Wayne were being such dicks to you, and we knew you were having a hard time at home.”

He went still again, hand falling from his head. “I never said anything.” 

“You didn’t have to.” Maria kept her eyes lowered, determinedly not looking at anything but her legs as she finished one and switched to the other. “Anyway, I keep things tidy. It probably makes for easier clean up after sex too, though I’ve never had anything to compare it to.”

“Never considered the full eighties bush?” Alex asked dryly, tipping his head back to rinse it out.

“Really not my style.” She was quiet for a moment as she finished shaving her thigh, then lifted her arms to shave quickly under them. “Is talking about this making it less weird?”

“Kind of.” Alex looked at her. “Wanna wash that out?”

“Nah, I should let it sit for a bit.” She hesitated, then stepped forward to wash her hands and the razor off, and leaned past him to get her shower gel. “Question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are we going to touch each other during this threesome?” She looked at him, then away, because it turned out her position on the awkward scale had gone down, but not enough to let her lather up her naked body while looking Alex in the eye. “Like, we’ll have to, right? It’d be incredibly awkward if we avoided it the whole time.”

“Yeah.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. She could see that in her peripheral vision, but not his expression. “You wanna practice that too?”

“Hey, tell me this isn’t totally necessary,” she said, lifting a leg to rest one foot on the edge of the tub as she rubbed soap down her knee, her calf, her shin, checking surreptitiously for any spots she’d missed with the razor. “We’re powering through this. Forcing our way down the awkward scale.”

“Definitely necessary.” Alex sighed. “I’m glad it’s not just me though.”

“Oh, it’s definitely not just you.” She swapped legs, still not looking at him. “We can do this though. We _cuddle_ these days, we’ll basically be doing that, just with less clothes.”

“And more sex.”

“Yeah. Okay, my turn.” She straightened and stood back a little as Alex sat, grabbed the other bar, and pulled himself up again, smoother and faster than she’d expected. And he touched her shoulder as she stepped past, giving her a wry look as he did. 

“Practice, right?”

“Practice,” she agreed, squeezing his upper arm quickly and turning her body under the shower to rinse off all the soap. “Where are you on the scale now?”

“Seven.”

“It’s working then.” She smiled at him, and he nodded slowly. 

“It’s getting less weird. I mean, it’s not like I don’t know what boobs look like. It’s just kind of weird seeing yours.”

“Even though I’m objectively hot?” She tipped her head back so she wouldn’t have to see his reaction, though she smiled when she heard him laugh.

“It’s weird because you’re – okay, uh. Like a cousin?”

Maria squawked and flapped an arm out to smack him without even thinking about the fact that she’d be hitting his bare chest. “Family terms are banned!”

“We said just brother and sister!”

“Nah, cousins is definitely not better. This right here.” She wiped water off her face and gestured between them. “Is not something cousins do. Or any family members.”

“You get what I mean though.” He paused. “Isn’t it like that for you?”

“Less so, I guess.” She gave him a look, a quick up and down like the ones he’d given her. “You’re not into women, but I’m still into men, and we’ve both agreed you’re objectively hot.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you weren’t gonna give me the satisfaction?”

“Shut up, we both know it’s true.”

“Mm.” He wrinkled his nose. “Is _that_ weird?”

“That I’m at least slightly attracted to you?”

“Yeah.”

She shook her head, going still under the water, just enjoying the heat of it. “I don’t think so? It’s not like I’m gonna act on it or expect any sort of reciprocation. It’s a line we kind of dance on anyway, don’t you think?”

“Because of Michael?”

“No, because…I don’t know, we’re closer than a lot of best friends are anyway.” She frowned, trying to put it into words. “I guess it is because of Michael, in a way. We wouldn’t hang out as much without him, I guess.”

“Or sleep in the same bed when we’re not drunk.”

“Yeah. Like, what we have isn’t romantic but it’s not strictly platonic either, I don’t think.”

Alex frowned. “See, I’d say it is. It’s not romantic at all – what we have is friendship, not romance.”

“It’s a pretty romantic friendship, Alex. Hate to break it to you, but most purely platonic friends don’t shower together.”

“That’s for Michael too though,” Alex pointed out. “We definitely wouldn’t be doing this otherwise.”

“True.” She didn’t know why, but Alex’s dismissal still stung, though she could see where he was coming from. She handed him the shower gel when he held out a hand for it, and slid carefully past him to climb out and start drying herself off as he washed himself. She watched his hands spread suds down the pale brown skin of his chest, between his legs, not lingering over his cock. She watched him hold onto the bar and contort his other arm to do his back, and she said, “Hey.”

“Mm?”

“Could I?” She gestured to him when he looked at her, and he dropped his hand, hesitating. 

“Okay. Okay.” He twisted, putting his back to her, and she tucked her towel into place under her arms before reaching out and pressing her palms to his shoulder blades. Drippy lines of foam were running down his back already, and she smoothed her hands down either side of his spine and then up. She kept her touch not too light or firm, kept it perfunctory and no-nonsense, and didn’t go any lower than the small of his back.

He had dimples of Venus, like she did. Michael liked to touch hers with the tip of his tongue, and she wondered if he liked to do that to Alex too.

She finished soaping Alex’s back and reached past him, around the edge of the shower screen to wash her hands off.

“Thanks,” Alex said quietly.

“Any time.” 

He had to keep his back to her and sit on the edge of the tub again to wash his legs, and she untucked her towel and went back to drying herself off, thinking about how she wanted to explain her feelings about what they had. She turned away slightly, giving Alex some privacy. Or as much of it as he could have when he was naked in her bathroom.

“It’s romantic because I’m in a relationship with you too,” she said finally, going to the sink and wiping the condensation off the mirror. “Just because Michael’s the only one I sleep with, doesn’t mean he’s the only one I think of when I think of the place in my life where a romantic partner is, you know? I don’t buy Christmas and birthday presents just for Michael. We’re in this together, all three of us.”

Alex was quiet for a few moments, and she glanced sideways at him to see him rinsing himself down efficiently, sweeping water down himself in sheets with the palm of the hand not holding onto the bar.

He turned the shower off. “That’s true. I guess I hadn’t really thought of it like that.”

“Right.” She turned around and leaned against the sink as he sat on the edge of the tub again and spun himself neatly around, foot landing perfectly on the bathmat. He reached out and snagged his towel from the rack and dried his foot first, which she thought was absolutely bizarre but didn’t comment on. “I know you’re not my boyfriend the same way Michael is, but you kind of are too.”

He smiled at her. “There’s no one else I can imagine being my sort-of girlfriend.”

“Hey, we could’ve been married by now in another life,” she grinned, and he snorted.

“A hundred years ago, maybe.”

“God, can you imagine?”

“It wouldn’t be terrible,” he allowed, towelling himself off roughly and pushing himself upright. She realised then why he’d dried his foot first – a slip couldn’t be corrected with only one leg, and he needed to make sure he could get safely to the toilet where he could put his leg back on. “I mean, it would, but it could be a lot worse.”

“Than being trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage? Seriously, I see so many people in that situation, and I’m telling you right now, I couldn’t do it.” She shook her head and re-tucked her towel under her arms. “I wanna get dicked down and romanced till the day I die.”

“And your priorities are in that order,” Alex teased, and laughed when she swatted his bare shoulder. “We should talk more about what we’re gonna do with Michael.”

“Blowjob followed by sandwich?”

Alex laughed again. “We haven’t even decided who’s blowing him.”

“I think I should.” She’d decided that yesterday. “Since you’ll be the one fucking him.”

Alex nodded slowly, rolling his liner back onto his stump. “I wanted to ask.”

“Yes?”

He cut a quick look up at her, where she was still leaning against the sink next to him. “How would you feel about directions? Like, me telling you…not what to do, exactly, but…”

“As long as it went both ways, sure.” Maria imagined it, sucking Michael off while Alex told her how. “As long as you weren’t directing me to do things like you, or I didn’t direct you to do things like me.”

“Right, obviously. But if you’re blowing him and I tell you to slow down, is that okay?”

“As long as when you’re fucking him, I could do the same.” She shrugged. “It should be collaborative, right? And I think that’d really turn him on too.”

“About that.” He pulled his briefs on, and his jeans, hitching the material up over his ass in practiced movements. “Should we kiss? Do you think he’d like that?”

Maria thought about it as Alex rubbed his towel roughly over his head and then pulled his shirt on. “Maybe. It’ll either drive him wild or be the move that makes us both die on the spot from sheer embarrassment. I’m leaning towards the former.”

Alex gave her an uncertain look. With his hair in wet spikes, elbows on his knees, back a long curve under his thin blue t-shirt, he looked incredibly young. “Do you think we should practice that too?”

No, Maria wanted to say at once. Nothing that would make Alex look like that, like he was afraid he was doing something wrong, like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to say no. “No,” she said. “I think…I don’t know, we can table that. We haven’t actually set any hard limits yet, you know.”

He raised his eyebrows and straightened. “We can do that.”

“We _should_ do that,” she said dryly. “Come on, I left all my moisturiser in my bathroom. Do you want any?”

“I’m good.” He rolled his jeans up and slotted his prosthesis onto his stump, standing up to click it into place. “Limits though.”

“You got some?” She pushed off from the sink and opened the bathroom door, heading back towards her bedroom.

“Definitely one – no touching my dick.”

Maria laughed, looking at him over her shoulder. “Okay, that definitely goes both ways. No touching anything my underwear would cover. And no touching my hair unless I say you can. And all direction has to be verbal, not physical.”

“No laughing,” Alex added as they got to her bedroom, and he leaned against the doorframe of her bathroom as she propped one foot up on the toilet and reached for her tub of moisturiser. “At each other, I mean, not like…in general.”

“Thank God for that qualifier. What do you call Michael?” she asked, the thought suddenly occurring to her. She looked at him as she unscrewed the tub and started massaging cream into her leg.

Alex frowned. “What do you mean? Like, Guerin?”

“Do you call him Guerin in bed?”

“Sometimes?” He looked baffled. “Do you mean pet names?”

“Yeah. Like, you know I call him babe all the time, and honey.”

“Yeah.” When she looked, Alex’s lips were pursed. She couldn’t quite read his expression, and she kept her eyes on his face as she smoothed her hands over and around her calf and shin. “Sweetheart, sometimes,” he said eventually, not looking back at her. “Mostly just Michael.”

“Does he call you anything?” Maria started on her other leg. “He calls me darling, or gorgeous. Or DeLuca.” She grinned. “I definitely call him Guerin sometimes.”

“And cowboy,” Alex smiled back at her, a little crooked. “And E.T.”

“Hardly ever! And I’ve never called him that in bed.” 

Alex huffed a small laugh and after a moment said, “He calls me darling too. Not often.”

“Just Alex?”

“Never Manes.”

That seemed significant enough to be worth making a note of. Maria nodded, wiping her hands on her stomach and screwing the lid of the moisturiser back on. She was getting chilly, and she didn’t really want to continue smoothing her hands over the rest of her body while Alex was there. Her legs were always the most important part. “Hey, where are you on the awkward scale now?”

“Still a seven. You?”

“Five, maybe.” She washed her hands off in the sink and washed her face again, properly this time, with cleanser. “The only other thing I can think of doing next is masturbating in front of each other, and I don’t really want to do that.”

“Me neither.” He sighed. “Keep talking, I guess, and planning. I wish there was a way to do an actual trial run of this without actually doing it.”

“Mmm.” She had to pause while she worked the soap around her mouth, and couldn’t help seeing the way Alex was watching her in the mirror as she did so. It reminded her of the way Michael had watched her getting ready for bed when they’d first started dating, curious at seeing all the steps she took with her skin. She rinsed her face, dabbed it dry, put on more moisturiser, and finally removed the hideous shower cap. “Really impressed you haven’t said a word about this,” she said dryly as she hung it up on the hook behind the door.

Alex stood back out of her way as she walked back into her bedroom, smirking a little. “I didn’t want to risk insulting a treasured heirloom.”

“Heirloom! Liz bought me that _last year._ ”

“You can’t deny it looks like it’s from the fifties though.”

Maria snorted, going to her closet to pick her outfit for the day. “Please, like they had colours like that in the fifties.” It was a multi-step process, most days, going back and forth between her closet and her dresser, but it came easy today. Cute denim mini-dress, collared polo, black tights, converse-style sneakers. She didn’t look at Alex as she tugged her towel free and started to dress herself.

“What’s the thing you’re most afraid of,” Alex asked suddenly, “when it comes to this threesome?”

Maria was so glad he’d at least waited until she’d gotten her bra and panties on before asking that. “Feeling like…” She frowned and pulled the polo over her head, careful not to muss her hair. “Feeling surplus to requirements,” she said, turning to look at him. “You?”

He smiled humourlessly. “Same, actually. And feeling like a failure.”

“How would that happen?”

“If it doesn’t work. It was my idea, so it’d be on me.”

“We agreed to it though,” Maria said, pulling her tights on one leg at a time. “Me and Michael. It’s a _three_ some, not a onesome.”

“Pretty sure that’d just be jerking off.”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” She rolled her eyes. “If it doesn’t work, it won’t be because you had the idea, or because of something you did or didn’t do. Relax. Accept it won’t be perfect. It’s sex, anyway, it’s never perfect.”

Alex raised his eyebrows, and she snorted and threw her towel at him. “Hey!”

“You know what I mean!” She stepped into her dress and shimmied it up over her hips. “It’s not a perfect backing track and breathless gasps of delight and no weird sounds or bits where you have to stop and rearrange everything because you accidentally ended up on the edge of the bed and if you keep fucking you’re just gonna fall right off. We’ll have to be talking the whole way through this, probably. We’ll be directing Michael too.”

“He likes that though.”

Maria grinned, wicked, and Alex bit back a smile of his own and threw her towel back at her. She snatched it out of the air and kept grinning at him. “He does, doesn’t he? I knew he’d be a pleaser with you too.”

Alex tilted his chin, eyebrows going up again. “A what?”

“A pleaser! He likes to make other people happy in bed.”

“How do you know that’s not just how he is with you and me?”

Maria went to hang her towel up, still smirking. “You know how many women I’ve seen Michael pick up over the years? It’s a lot. And whatever complaints they had afterwards, none of them were about his performance in the bedroom. Or trailer, or truck, or –”

“Okay, I get it,” Alex said peevishly. It was probably a little cruel that Maria kind of enjoyed provoking Alex’s possessive streak, but the couple of times she’d done it while they were both with Michael, he’d clearly been into it.

Maria shrugged, amused. “Just saying. It’s like the way he likes to fix things. He wants to be useful.”

“Do you psychoanalyse me like this?” 

“It’s not psychoanalysis!” Maria protested, laughing. “It’s observation. Chill, Alex.” She kissed his cheek as she passed him. “I keep my psychic side as locked down as I can around you two.” Alex knew that, but she also knew he knew that it was difficult for her to _not_ feel things sometimes, especially if they were strong feelings from people she already knew well. And Michael and Alex were the two people she knew best in the world now.

“What would you say about me though?” Alex asked, with a wary edge he didn’t often have around her these days.

Maria grabbed a jacket from her closet and turned to face him. “I’d say you’re guarded.”

“Too easy.” He smiled slightly, easing her tension. “Come on, I’m curious.”

“Fine.” She went to her dresser and her extensive jewellery collection and started picking out rings, bracelets, and necklaces for the day. “Guarded is definitely your key word though. If Michael wants to be useful and I want to be known, you want to be in control. Not in a bad way,” she added quickly, seeing Alex’s smile vanish in the mirror. “In an…awareness kind of way. You hate surprises, you like to plan. If you’re in control, everything is a known factor, and you can protect us better that way. And you’re very protective.”

Alex didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “You want to be known?”

“Sure. Everyone wants to be seen and loved for exactly who they are.” She held an earring up to her lobe and put it down again, deciding on plain studs. “That’s a pretty basic human need. And an alien need, based on our tiny sample size.”

“But it’s the thing you want most?”

She raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “Like you didn’t know that?”

He shrugged, caught. “Doesn’t hurt to verify.”

“Fair enough.” She smiled and turned around, arms up to present herself. “How cute do I look right now?”

He grinned. “Very cute.”

“C’mere.” She beckoned him over, and squeaked when he came and hugged her so tightly he lifted her off the ground for a second. She staggered as her feet came down again, and she laughed as he held her steady and squeezed her again. She held onto him just as tight, tucking her face into his shoulder. “You staying for breakfast?”

“Sure.”

“You’d better get cooking then.” She leaned back and smirked. “I still need to do my makeup.”

“You’re sneaky and you suck,” he smiled, and kissed her cheek before letting go of her. “Eggs okay?”

“If I have any. It might just be toast.”

“Better hurry before I eat it all then.”

“If you eat my food and leave none for me, I’ll kill you!”

“You can try.”

The conclusion Maria came to as she ate breakfast with Alex and then went to work, was that their attempt at lowering their respective places on the awkward scale had gone well. With three weeks to Michael’s birthday though, they both agreed (a little more reluctantly on Alex’s part) that they had more work to do.

Michael asked her about it, hesitantly at first, then eagerly. “You’re both crazy,” he said one night when they were in bed, kissing Maria’s inner thigh below her pyjama shorts. It was one of his favourite places on her body. “Doing this for me.”

“Well we do both love you a whole lot,” she reminded him fondly, resting her lower leg on his back as he lifted it over his shoulder, rubbing his bristly cheek against the side of her knee as he did. It made her giggle every time he did it, and he grinned back at her when she did.

“Still crazy,” he said, tracing a line down her thigh to where it met her pelvis. Little, soft touches he knew she loved. “Alex said you made a _checklist_ the other day.”

“A yes, no, maybe list,” she grinned, digging her heel into his back a little to pull him closer. “Just trying to cover all our bases. Only the best for our boyfriend.”

Michael closed his eyes, smile turning soft and lopsided. “Sap.”

“You like it.” She slid her knee off his shoulder and pulled him up over her before rolling them so she was on top. She kissed him lightly, just a tease that made his hands pull her against him, hot on her back. “You like that we wanna make you feel good.”

“It’s the _we_ that’s really killing me,” he admitted, and Maria kissed him properly, threading one hand into his hair and biting gently on his lower lip as she drew back. 

“I like teaming up with Alex,” she grinned. “He was always the best project partner.”

“And I’m your new project, huh?” Michael laughed softly, tilting his head up to try and kiss her again. She brushed her lips gently against his, not letting him close the distance properly.

“Wouldn’t call this _new,_ cowboy. Besides.” She kissed him, the barest press of lips to lips. “It takes three to tango in this house. You’re our favourite boyfriend, we wanna show you. And blow your mind,” she added slyly, and he laughed again.

“Just thinking about it is doing that. You’re gonna kill me.”

“Only little deaths, promise.” She kissed him, slow and deep to hear him moan, and arched down against the growing hardness pressing against her.

She and Alex didn’t masturbate in front of each other (a step she really couldn’t imagine taking) but they showered together a couple more times, asked each other questions that would have been considered deeply invasive just a few weeks earlier, and turned the corner from wary to excited with about a week to go.

“This is cruel,” Michael complained at them from Alex’s kitchen, where he was making them all breakfast while Alex and Maria curled up together on the couch. “You’re just teasing me now.”

“Maybe a little,” Alex grinned, wrapping an arm around Maria’s shoulders and pulling her back against his chest. 

Michael practically pouted. “If I didn’t have like, five eggs over here to watch, I’d come and sit on you.”

“You’re always welcome,” Maria smirked, and snickered when he flipped her off and pointedly turned his back on them.

Michael’s actual birthday, the one he shared with Max and Isobel, was on a Sunday this year, and since he was spending that with them, Alex and Maria were celebrating with him on the Saturday. They’d all taken time off work, and the plan for the day was simple – late start, brunch, gentle hike, picnic, back to Maria’s, threesome, cuddles and snacks until they fell asleep.

Maria didn’t think that any threesome had been so meticulously planned in all of human history. And even if it had, it certainly hadn’t in human-alien history. 

It helped though, oddly enough. She was usually of the mind that overplanning something led to disappointment or a generally underwhelming result, but this was different. They’d gotten closer over the last year naturally, but with all the extra work she’d been putting in with Alex over the last month, they were comfortable enough to be much touchier than normal now. They were kissing each other’s cheeks almost as often as they were kissing Michael. Maria didn’t hesitate to lean her head on Alex’s shoulder while they ate their picnic, and he applied sunscreen to her shoulders and upper back when she took her jacket off. 

Neither of them could keep their hands off Michael, and they didn’t flinch or hold back if they touched each other in the process. Maria couldn’t tell at first whether Michael was flushed from the exercise or their actions, but when Alex turned Michael towards her and murmured, “Kiss her,” in his ear and Michael exhaled shakily before ducking to obey, she figured it was from them.

Alex kissed Michael as soon as they got back to hers, leaning back against the wall and pulling Michael against him. Maria had seen them kiss before, plenty of times, but she’d never seen them make out before, not long, deep kisses like this. She locked the door and wrapped her arms around Michael’s waist from behind, pressing her face between his shoulder blades and smiling when she felt him sigh.

“Killing me,” he murmured, and Maria went up on tiptoe to look over his shoulder at Alex, who caught her eye and grinned.

“We’ve barely started.”

Michael groaned and dropped his forehead onto Alex’s shoulder, holding Maria’s arms in place with one of his own. “I’m not gonna last.”

“Well if you could at least make it to the bedroom, that’d be nice,” Maria said dryly. “I changed the sheets for this, and you know how much I hate laundry.”

Michael laughed and squeezed one of her wrists. “Lead on, evil masterminds.”

Maria twisted her hand to slide her fingers through his and spun him around to kiss her. Alex took Michael’s other hand, and Michael looked between them with wide, smiling eyes as they led him to Maria’s bedroom. She’d tidied too – her bedroom hadn’t looked so good in years.

Alex slid behind Michael as they went in and started kissing the back of his neck. When Michael’s eyes fell closed, his head drooping, Maria framed his face with her hands and kissed him. When she slid one hand down to his waist, her hand bumped over Alex’s on the way. When she slid it back to pull Michael closer with pressure on his tailbone, she could feel Alex’s shirt against the back of her hand, and then the soft heat of his stomach as he pressed closer.

It was going to work. She grinned into the kiss before she drew back and looked at Alex before Michael had even opened his eyes. “Get the door?”

Alex reached back and pushed it closed, then slid his hands under Michael’s shirt and started pulling it up and off. Michael raised his hands automatically, and Maria wrapped her arms around him with a pleased sound, enjoying the heat he always gave off. “Best space heater ever.”

“ _Space_ heater,” Michael muttered, like he always did, and they grinned at each other. His eyes fluttered closed again as Alex wound a hand into his hair and pulled his head back slowly, glancing at Maria over Michael’s shoulder and raising an amused eyebrow. She snorted and kissed the exposed column of Michael’s throat, since it was right there, and Michael shivered.

They undressed him and themselves piece by piece, and the beauty of having two of them focused on Michael meant that one of them could always be touching him, no matter what the other was doing. Maria stripped down to her underwear while the boys got naked, and when Alex sat on the bed Maria pushed Michael down gently to sit between his spread legs.

“Oh God,” Michael said weakly as she sank to her knees and scratched teasing lines down the insides of his thighs. 

She grinned and watched his face as Alex kissed his shoulder and slid a hand down his stomach, fingertips teasing at where his pubic hair started. His dick was already hard, his stomach already tense, and Maria pushed his legs further apart so she could settle comfortably between them, accepting the cushion Alex passed her for her knees. 

“This is going to be so quick,” Michael breathed, watching her.

“Is it though?” She smirked up at him and curled a hand under his thigh to cup his balls very gently.

“Apparently you like her teasing you,” Alex murmured, hands wandering across Michael’s chest, squeezing his shoulders and arms. “That true, Guerin?”

“Nggh.” Michael swallowed. “Yeah. Fuck.” Maria grinned and lifted his dick with the back of her thumb so she could just brush the flat of her tongue over the head. “Maria,” Michael breathed.

“You comfortable?” she asked, mouth so close to Michael’s dick he could probably feel the air on the now-wet skin.

Michael’s breathing hitched as Alex started to circle one of his nipples with a fingertip. “Mmhmm.”

“Good.” She licked him again and closed her eyes, but not before she saw Alex turn Michael’s chin and kiss him on the mouth.

They held Michael between them, Maria’s hands on his thighs, Alex’s on his chest. Maria teased the way she and Michael both liked, using her tongue and lips only on the tip, holding him at the base with her hand. Open-mouthed but not quite sloppy, because she hated the feeling of saliva on her chin. She was practiced at holding Michael’s cock in her mouth, resting on her lower lip, working him with plenty of wetness and almost no suction at all, just to torture him.

His exhalations were already getting more melodic, and when Maria looked up, lips sealed around his cock and just holding him still for a moment, she could see Alex had looped one arm under Michael’s and had his hand spread over his throat. No pressure, not even curled around it, just laying over it, thumb resting against Michael’s collarbone, fingers splayed beautifully over the skin of his neck. 

Michael surrendered to it. She couldn’t see his expression from where she was – his head was tipped too far back – but she could hear his breathing, and the almost-moans that he couldn’t help making. Alex nudged his head gently to the side and Maria watched his tongue flick out against Michael’s earlobe. His eyes dropped and met hers, and they smiled at each other. “Feeling good?” Alex murmured into Michael’s ear, voice sinfully low, and Maria watched, enraptured, as goosebumps erupted in shivering waves down Michael’s arms and legs.

“Mmmmmm,” was all Michael could manage, one hand reaching up to cradle the back of Alex’s head, the other reaching out weakly for Maria’s shoulder. She caught it in her free hand instead and let Michael’s cock slip out of her mouth after one good suck that made his hips jerk forward. She hummed a laugh and pulled Michael’s fingers straight with her thumb so she could kiss the centre of his palm instead. “Fuck,” Michael whispered, and she grinned up at Alex, who raised an eyebrow at her, obviously pleased.

“Not yet,” she said, and licked his index finger before sucking it into her mouth. Sucking dick, for her, was less about loving the act than the way men reacted to it. Sucking fingers, however, she liked for its own sake. She lavished attention on every digit, looking up as Michael groaned and Alex nipped his ear.

“I see what you meant,” he said, loud enough that it was clearly intended for both of them to hear. “About how he likes to be teased.”

“Mmmm,” Maria hummed around Michael’s middle and ring fingers, tongue tracing the line between them as she felt his cock twitch in her hand. “You like that?” she grinned, pulling Michael’s hand back and kissing his fingertips. “Us talking about you? Talking about all the things we wanna do to you?”

“For you,” Alex murmured, and Michael twisted his head further sideways, a choked little noise slipping out of him. “Because we love you,” Alex said, and looked down at Maria. “You should give his cock a little more attention.”

“In a second.” Maria grinned and sucked on Michael’s index finger, flicking her tongue against his fingertip in a parody of what she’d been doing to his dick before. “I love Michael’s hands.”

“They’re good hands,” Alex agreed, sliding his own up Michael’s chest, and then trailing one up Michael’s arm until he could hold onto his left hand and pull it forward to Alex could kiss his fingers too. “My favourite hands,” he said, eyes closing for a moment, and Maria’s heart swelled at how tender his expression was, how unguarded. She wanted to take a photograph and show it to Michael later, to hug him as he looked at it so he knew what he brought out in Alex.

“You.” Michael swallowed and rolled his head around, leaning his temple against Alex’s forehead and looking down at Maria with hazy eyes, pupils so wide she could see them from between his knees. “You’ve barely fuckin’ started,” he said, almost slurring. “Don’t make me cry already, let me keep some dignity.”

“Is crying on the table?” Alex grinned, leaning back so he could turn Michael’s jaw towards him and kiss him softly. “You need us to slow down?”

“Fuck no.” Michael shifted his hips pointedly, and Maria laughed and started stroking him. “’S a lot though,” he breathed against Alex’s lips. “Feels like I could go off already.”

“You know the rules, cowboy,” Maria said, kissing the head of his cock and smiling sweetly up at him when he looked down at her. “You come on my face or in my hair, you sleep outside.”

Both Michael and Alex laughed, and Michael’s turned into a desperate groan as Maria opened her mouth and slid down onto his dick in one smooth movement. Michael threw his head back again and Maria closed her eyes and changed her angle so she was more comfortable, sliding the hand she’d been stroking Michael with down to cup his balls again. She felt his legs spread further, and opened her eyes as skin brushed her shoulder – Alex’s left leg, hitched over Michael’s to expose him for her.

It made Michael gasp, hand clenching on Alex’s knee and in Alex’s hair. Maria closed her eyes again, smiling as much as she could with her mouth stretched around Michael’s cock, and concentrated on finding a slow, sliding rhythm. She couldn’t deepthroat at speed, but she could like this, breathing in careful gaps through her nose, lips a soft seal around Michael with her tongue protecting him from the scrape of her teeth.

She looked up at saw both men gazing down at her, Alex’s face turned into Michael’s hair. They both looked kind of mesmerised, and in lieu of a smile, she winked. It made Michael laugh and Alex grin, his hands shifting into motion on Michael’s chest again. “You know why we’re taking it so slow?” he asked Michael, who bit his lip and blinked down at Maria like he would die if he looked away. She knew he liked the look of her taking him into her mouth.

“Cause.” It sounded like a tremendous effort for Michael to speak. He had to take a deep breath before he could go on. “I’m. Oh…so close, already?”

Maria drew back and sucked at his head, tasting his precum and watching the way Michael’s eyes rolled back a little when she tongued at his slit. “Mm-mm,” she hummed in the negative, and smirked up at Alex before taking Michael deep again. His whole body tensed as he groaned, and Alex tightened his grip on him.

“Because we want to take our time with you,” he said, right into Michael’s ear. “We’re gonna make you feel so good, you won’t be able to think.”

“Please,” Michael breathed, and a lovely pulse of heat went through Maria’s belly. She rubbed her thumb across the thin skin behind his balls and felt it when he tried to thrust and stop himself at the same time. 

She pulled off slowly and spread her saliva down his shaft. “Better hold him still,” she told Alex, voice a little hoarse. She smiled up at Michael and slid her hand over the one he had clenched on Alex’s knee. “I’m gonna make you forget everything but who’s touching you right now, babe.”

“Please,” Michael begged again, and she moaned as she slid her mouth down on him again. She felt Alex shift, and Michael with him, but she didn’t look up to see what was happening. She closed her eyes and slid down again, deep enough to swallow around Michael and have him feel the muscles of her throat on his cock. He cried out, so tense under her, and she gripped his wrist and kept going, not fast, but steady. 

Michael gasped and gasped, high and desperate, cracked, beautiful noises tumbling out of his mouth with no restraint holding him back except Alex’s arms and hands and legs, pinning him open and holding him still for Maria to consume. And she was, she was soaking up everything he was giving her, every helpless sound and every tremble of his body until he went tense all over and gave a final, bitten-off cry as he came.

Maria swallowed, practiced and smooth, and kept her mouth around him afterwards, licking and sucking him until he shivered and tried to pull away.

“You okay?” Alex murmured, brushing a gentle hand through Michael’s hair and wrapping his other arm over Michael’s chest, holding him close. “Michael?”

“Guh.” Michael opened his eyes slowly and looked down at Maria, chest still heaving. “Shit. Yeah, I’m…fucked, right now, holy shit, guys.”

“And just think,” Maria grinned and knelt up to kiss his chest, then his jaw. “That was only round one.”

“Oh fuck.” Michael dropped his head back onto Alex’s shoulder, chest heaving. “Guys. What if you actually kill me. What if I die in this bed.”

“What a way to go,” Alex said dryly, and Maria laughed and kissed Michael’s throat.

“Shift back, boys. I wanna get on the bed.”

“I can’t feel my hands,” Michael muttered, smiling crookedly. “Or like, I can, but they’re all tingly.”

“Ooh, nerve damage,” Maria grinned and got to her feet. “High praise.”

Alex and Michael both laughed, and Alex scooted backwards on the bed, leaving Michael to flop backwards unsupported so he was just lying there, arms out and chest still heaving a little bit. “I might actually need a minute,” he said, sounding kind of surprised, but happy at the same time.

“At least get your head on a pillow,” Maria said, unhooking her bra and tossing it in the direction of the rest of her clothes. Alex helped Michael shuffle up the bed so he was lying in the middle of it, grinning into Alex’s shoulder. Maria slid her panties off and climbed onto Michael’s other side, lying down against him and hooking a leg over his. She could feel how wet she was, slick between her legs. It was Michael’s uninhibited noises that did it to her, and the way he’d said _please_. “So warm,” she sighed happily.

Alex snorted and propped himself up on his elbow to look down at both of them, eyes flicking from Maria to Michael, who held his gaze and smiled dopily up at him. “Love you.”

Alex smiled back at him, soft and a little shy. “I love you too.”

“Kiss him,” Maria told him, reaching over to rest her hand on Alex’s shoulder, urging him down, and Alex grinned as he did so. Maria watched the two of them for a couple of seconds, kissing with the easy familiarity of people who knew each other’s kisses well, before she leaned in to kiss Michael’s neck. His legs squeezed together, pressing her calf between his, and he sighed into Alex’s mouth as he reached blindly for Maria’s arm to pull it over his chest. 

Alex leaned down further, Maria wriggled a little bit to close the tiny gaps between her and Michael, and the two of them cradled Michael between them, hands occasionally crossing or bumping as they swept up and down Michael’s body. 

When Alex drew back to look down at Michael, and Michael turned to look at Maria, she didn’t hesitate before leaning in to kiss him as well. Even with her eyes closed, she could somehow sense Alex’s movements. She knew his hand was sliding into Michael’s hair, she knew he was settling down on his side to press himself against Michael, mirroring her own position. The back of his knuckles skimmed her upper arm, and she reached out without breaking her kiss with Michael, curving her hand around Alex’s arm to hold onto him as well. It only took a second for him to reciprocate, the two of them crossing their arms across Michael’s chest and holding him.

Michael breathed against her lips a little shakily, and Maria kissed the corner of his mouth. “We love you so much,” she murmured, lifting her head a little to meet Alex’s eyes across the stubbled skin of Michael’s neck.

“More than anything,” Alex agreed, and kissed the join of Michael’s neck and shoulder, working his way up to Michael’s hairline. Maria leaned back to watch the way Michael’s eyelids fluttered, the way his lips parted.

“You’re so…” She shook her head, amazed, and Alex smiled against the back of Michael’s ear.

“Beautiful,” he said, and Michael’s brow creased, his breath hitching a little. He wasn’t hard again yet – wouldn’t be for a while, but Maria could recognise the want in his expression. She could practically taste it in the air around them, and when she propped herself up to look down at all their bodies together on the bed, she grinned at the spectrum they made.

“We’re all pretty hot,” she said, grinning when Michael huffed a laugh. “Seriously, guys, look at us, we’re hot stuff.”

“Are you secretly filming this or something?” Michael laughed again, leaning up to kiss her jaw. 

“What, I can’t acknowledge how good we look together?” Maria grinned at him, and at Alex, who just looked indulgently amused. “Out of the three of us, who here has the best aesthetic eye?”

“Who plays guitar the best?” Michael shot back. “Who’s got alien powers? We can all play the obvious game.”

“I do not play that well, I don’t know where you’re getting this idea,” Alex snorted, letting go of Maria to turn Michael’s face towards his so he could kiss him again. Maria trailed her hand down from Alex’s arm to Michael’s thigh and back up towards his chest, watching him kiss Alex with a lazy focus.

“Talented fingers,” he breathed, and Alex laughed softly. 

“What should I do with those fingers then, huh?” Michael lifted his hips, Maria’s hand going flat against the plane of his stomach, and Alex smirked. “Yeah? You ready for round two?”

“I will be.” Michael turned his head to look up at Maria, a thoughtful look on his face. “Did you guys have a plan for this part?”

“Babe, we have a plan with like, three alternatives in case of adjustments for literally every step. I told you, Alex is the best project partner.”

“Excuse me?” Alex started laughing on Michael’s other side. “Are you expecting Michael to give us a grade at the end of this or something?”

“A’s for everyone,” Michael grinned. “Easiest grading ever.”

“Shut up.” Maria smacked Michael’s chest, then Alex’s arm gently. “Why? What did you have in mind?”

“Well.” Michael glanced at Alex, then back at her. “If I’m on all fours, I could eat you out at the same time as Alex preps me.”

It had been one of their ideas, actually, and Maria grinned at Alex. They’d decided against it for simplicity’s sake, and because Maria hadn’t been entirely sure if she wanted to be so open in front of both men. Alex raised his eyebrows at her, clearly remembering that, and she nodded, still smiling. “I’m happy with that,” she said, looking from him to Michael, who was looking oddly thrilled. “Alex?”

“Works for me.” Alex kissed Michael’s cheek. “As long as you can hold yourself up.”

“For as long as I can,” Michael promised, and started to sit up. They all shifted around, Maria getting in the middle of the bed before they realised they’d have to be more diagonal so Alex would be able to fit on the bed too, and even then Michael directed Maria to sit up a bit against the headboard. “You can put one leg over my shoulder,” he said, nuzzling the inside of her thigh already, and Maria smiled as she did it, glancing at Alex over Michael’s head.

“All good?” Alex checked, and Maria nodded firmly. When she’d nixed this position in their planning stage, she’d imagined herself with legs open, Alex able to see every part of her. She had what she considered a normal level of insecurity about the appearance of her vulva, and she was happy showing it to the men she slept with, but hadn’t relished the idea of seeing Alex’s reaction to the sight. It was stupid, but she was still kind of haunted by the memory of his reaction to the biology diagram when they were kids. 

She was okay with it now though, strangely. Not just because Michael would physically be between her and Alex, blocking his view, but because of Michael in general. Michael smoothed the sharp edges; he left no room for insecurities or fear. There had been a tiny, deep-down part of Maria that had worried that even with all of her and Alex’s planning and contingencies and improved communication and comfort around each other, it would still hurt one or two or all of them. She’d worried that they would be forcing Michael into an impossible situation of comparisons and discomfort as he tried to tear himself in two for them. But Michael loved them both so much that he just expanded between them, glowing like a sun.

“Did I say I love your hands before?” Maria smiled lazily as she tangled a hand in Michael’s hair, drinking in the way he pressed into it and closed his eyes. “Because I really, _really_ love your mouth.”

“Seconded, unsurprisingly,” Alex said, opening the bottle of lube with one hand, his other smoothing over Michael’s back. “That tongue.”

“It’s all about the lips,” Maria said, tracing them with the fingers of her other hand and grinning when Michael mouthed at them. “God, you have the prettiest mouth,” she said without thinking, and beamed when Michael moaned and arched forward to suck her middle finger between his lips. She’d never called him pretty before – she’d never called any man she’d been with pretty before – but hearing Alex call him beautiful before had given her the idea that he wouldn’t mind. “So pretty,” she murmured, tucking her thumb under his chin and tilting it up to really get a good look at how his lips pursed around her finger. She slid her ring finger into his mouth as well and tightened her grip on his hair, and it was startling how loudly Michael moaned at that.

“What’re you doing up there?” Alex asked, amused. “I haven’t even touched him yet.”

“Giving him something to suck on,” Maria smiled, rubbing her fingers against the flat of Michael’s tongue, too mesmerised by the plaintive expression on his face to look at Alex. 

“Good idea,” Alex grinned, and Maria guessed he did touch him then, because Michael moaned again, biting down for a second on Maria’s fingers.

“Sorry,” he gasped, letting go of her at once, but she kept her fingers in his mouth and scratched the fingernails of her other hand against his scalp.

“You’re good, babe, that was actually super hot. He bit me,” she told Alex, and she really could not stop smiling. “I’m guessing that was your fault?”

“Maybe.” Alex grinned back. “I’m not even in him yet though.”

Michael sucked on Maria’s fingers and slipped them from his mouth with a twist of his head. “Let’s see either of you have four hands on you and not get a bit overwhelmed,” he groused, and dropped his head on a groan when Alex did something. Slid a finger in, maybe? Maria had never actually fingered anyone’s ass before, apart from her own, twice, just to confirm to herself as a younger woman that she was never letting anyone put a dick up there. 

“Thought you were meant to be occupying that mouth, sweetheart,” Alex said, smooth and a little smug. Maria sighed in pure satisfaction when Michael buried his face against her thigh at once, his breath hot on her skin.

“I get it,” she said quietly, smiling as she guided Michael up to the join of her hip with her hand in his hair. “He’s hot when he’s all commanding like that, huh?” She saw Alex shake his head, but he didn’t contradict her.

“So hot,” Michael whispered, rubbing his nose against her mound. “Oh fuck…”

“What’s he doing to you? Tell me, I can’t see.”

“Just one finger,” Michael breathed, eyes closed. He lowered himself down to his elbows, one at a time, and wrapped one arm over the leg that wasn’t hooked over his shoulder to spread her further. “Feels so good, so fucking good.”

“Good thing you’ll last longer this time,” Maria purred, tilting her hips up a little. The tip of Michael’s tongue slid against the side of her clit the way he knew she loved, and she groaned.

“Hold my head up?” Michael asked, eyes flicking up to hers. “I’ll last longer that way.”

“You got it, cowboy.” She felt it as he surrendered the full weight of his head to her grip in his hair, and she used it to pull him closer, so he had to open his mouth over her or be smothered. He moaned helplessly, hips flexing from whatever Alex was doing, and it was amazing. The wet heat of his mouth over her, the desperate sounds he kept making, the shivers that kept racing down his spine, it was all perfect.

“Hey Alex,” Maria said, her heart kicking into overdrive as Michael got to work, slow slides of his tongue against her, keeping the pressure as soft as he could manage. “Michael’s mouth is definitely occupied now. What’re you doing back there? I wanna know.”

“Oh, I’m taking care of him, don’t worry.” Alex smiled, slow and predatory. “Isn’t that right, Michael?”

Michael whined into Maria’s cunt, and she jerked her hips up against him with a pleased gasp. “Ooh, you’re so good,” she told him, caressing his face with her other hand. “Specifically though,” she added, for Alex.

“Specifically?” Alex did something that made Michael’s breath hitch. “Three fingers, just opening him up a bit. You’ll be able to tell when I start in on him properly. He might get a bit sloppy.”

“Promises, promises,” Maria grinned, scratching the back of Michael’s neck and humming happily as he kissed her clit, still keeping it good and soft. “I can’t wait to feel it.”

Michael made a desperate sound and licked into her a little harder. She pulled him back and tsked, smirking.

“Slower, honey, come on. You know how I like it.”

“Can’t concentrate,” Michael gasped, eyes taking a second to focus when he opened them. “I’m…”

“Don’t apologise,” she said quickly, before he could. “Not for what Alex is doing to you. I like it.” She pulled him in again, keeping him at a bit of a distance so he had to stick his tongue out of his mouth to lick her. They’d done it like this a couple of times before, with her holding onto his hair and making him beg without words to pleasure her. The power rush was incredible, it turned her on more than she’d ever thought possible, and it was amazing like this, knowing how much harder Michael was having to work with Alex distracting him so thoroughly. “You’re so good for us,” she breathed, captivated by the sight of him. “Aren’t you? So good.”

“Please,” Michael gasped. “Please, Maria…”

“Teasing him again?” Alex said archly, and Maria grinned at him.

“I can’t resist.”

“You like to hear him beg?”

Michael shuddered, licking his lips and closing his eyes for a second before he pulled forward again, trying to get his mouth on Maria properly. 

Maria hummed and let him, groaning at how good it felt when she did. “I like giving him what he asks for,” she said, words pulled out of her syrup-slow, her own head falling back against the wall. “Oh fuck, yeah. Like that, that’s right, babe, that’s so good, you’re so good for me.” Michael’s mouth was so hot, his tongue a slow, wet rub against the side of her clit. “So _hot_ ,” she moaned, grip savagely tight in his hair. “Fuck, your mouth. Alex, you…oh, you noticed how hot his mouth is?”

“He runs hot everywhere.” Alex spoke as slowly as she had, and when she opened her eyes to check on him, she saw that he was stroking his free hand up and down Michael’s back and ass, entranced. “Around my fingers, right now,” he went on softly. “You’ve never had your fingers in him, have you?”

“What’s it like?” Maria asked, her breathing starting to shake. She couldn’t believe she was asking that. She couldn’t believe she might actually come. She hadn’t expected to be able to, in front of Alex, but somehow it was working. If Michael could get his fingers in her, she really might come.

“Fucking transcendent.” Alex’s smile was beautiful, that smugness radiating from him and making Michael moan into Maria again. “You are, sweetheart,” Alex said. “You’re gorgeous like this, you have no idea. Pinned between us, you’re so hot for us, aren’t you? I love how I can do this –” Whatever it was, it made Michael shout, twisting to try and muffle it in the crease of Maria’s thigh. “– and you fall apart for me.”

“Mouth on the prize, Michael,” Maria grinned, tugging him back into position, feeling the power thrill through her whole body when Michael whined again, kissing her and licking her and tilting his chin up to seal his lips so, so gently around her clit to suck. “Ohhhh yeah,” she breathed. “That’s it, that’s right. What was that?” she asked Alex, eyelids heavy with arousal. “His prostate?”

“Yeah.” Alex grinned at her. “Want me to let him finish you off before I do that again?”

“Mmmmm, yes. Michael…ah, Michael, can you –?”

“Mmmm,” he hummed in the affirmative, shifting his right arm. Her leg started to slide off his shoulder, but Alex caught her ankle with a raised eyebrow and smiled when she nodded breathlessly.

“Perfect, yes, fuck…oh, fuck, _Michael_ , fuck yes.” His fingers were hot in her as well, curling up and starting to rock in a hard, steady rhythm. “Fuck, come on…fuck, you’re perfect, you’re so good, you’re so fucking good…” She trailed off into breathy moans as Michael worked her up to the edge just the way she’d taught him, increasing the pressure against her clit in tiny increments until she was clenching down around him and pressing her head back into the wall with a long, high moan.

“Okay,” she breathed after a few long seconds. “Oh, that was so good. I love you so much. Go for it, Alex.”

Michael turned his face against Maria’s thigh and breathed as Alex lowered her leg slowly to the bed. “We’ve got you,” he said softly. “You’re perfect for us, you know that? You’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

“Oh, so true.” Maria gentled her grip in Michael’s hair, letting him lean his head against her thigh. “You’re amazing, honey. You’re the best thing. I’ll tell you something.” She grinned down at him, trailing her fingers down to tap against the warm wetness around his mouth. His fingers slid out of her, and she laughed as he sucked them into his mouth the way he always did, always hungry to taste as much of her as he could. She loved him so much for that.

“Tell me,” he mumbled, and shuddered as Alex started to finger him again. “Oh…oh…”

“I didn’t think I’d be able to come like this.” She played with his hair and glanced over at Alex, who was bending down to kiss Michael’s spine. “I thought it’d be too much pressure. But you make everything so good, you’re so good for me.”

“Trained me well,” Michael gasped, his body starting to rock back into Alex’s hand. “Hah…ah, Alex, Alex…”

“That’s right,” Alex murmured, sliding round to Michael’s side to kiss the back of his shoulder. “I’ve got you. Maria’s got you.”

“Yours,” Michael said hazily, and Maria had the distant feeling that this was getting a bit deeper than the fun threesome they’d planned, but that was just Michael all over.

“Ours,” she agreed. “We’ve got you; we’re keeping you right here, honey.”

“Ahh, please.” Michael turned his face into her hand, panting. “ _Please,_ fuck me.”

“Kneeling or lying down?” Alex asked, not letting up the movement of his hand for a second. Michael cried out, teeth pressing into Maria’s thigh for a glorious moment before he swallowed and managed to force words out.

“Down. Can’t…fucking ruined me already, I can’t even…”

“That’s good,” Alex murmured. “I like giving you what you ask for too, you know.”

“Taking care of you,” Maria said, stroking his shoulder and neck. “Giving you what you deserve.”

Michael moaned, desperation etched in every line of his face. “Please,” he begged. “Please, please…”

Maria tilted her head at Alex, who nodded and moved back, sliding his fingers out of Michael and reaching for the lube again as Maria helped Michael fall sideways into the middle of the bed again. Michael pulled her down with him and kissed her with such a frantic, needy edge to it that if they were alone, she would have rolled him onto his back and ridden him till she came again. He was clinging to her, and she stroked her hands down every part of him she could reach.

“Shhhh,” she whispered. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. You wanna pause for a minute?”

“No, no.” He kissed her again and then looked for Alex, eyes wide. “Both of you, I want you, I need it, I need you. I love you, please, please –”

“We’ve got you.” Alex leaned down over both of them and kissed Michael hard, controlling every angle. Maria stared, hypnotised and hungry, and breathed out slowly as Alex pulled back with small, biting kisses that made Michael chase him. Maria leaned in to kiss the corner of Michael’s mouth, and he whined and turned helplessly to kiss her again, slowing to match her pace.

“We love you so much,” Alex said, low and urgent. “So much, Michael. Here.” His face bumped hers, and Maria tilted her chin to nudge Michael in his direction, licking her lips as they kissed again. She kissed Michael’s cheek as he kissed Alex, and kissed Alex’s jaw, smiling when he hummed quietly in the back of his throat. He turned and brushed her lips with his, and they both smiled at each other, Maria giddy, Alex relieved. She kissed him again, a longer one with her mouth still closed, and heard Michael exhale heavily.

“You should fuck him now,” she murmured against Alex’s lips. 

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, turning to Michael to kiss him again, sweet and slow. “You ready?”

“I’ve been ready for ages,” Michael croaked. “I’m dying here, y’know.”

“And you look so good too,” Maria purred, kissing his cheek again as Alex rolled onto Michael’s other side. No condom – when he and Michael fucked, they went bareback. Maria was slightly paranoid about alien sperm, so she only ever fucked Michael with a condom.

“Just like we were saying,” Alex said, lifting one of Michael’s legs and presumably spreading his cheeks. Maria reached over to help, and he smiled at her over Michael’s shoulder. “He’s so hot on the inside.”

Michael groaned, and Maria kissed his neck as he tipped his head back. She could feel it as Alex pushed in, slow and careful, pulling out again to add more lube, then pushing in all the way. “Multi-step process,” she mumbled, laughing to herself. It was a phrase Alex had used to explain how he and Michael fucked, how anal worked.

“Multi-step?” Michael gasped, an octave lower than usual.

“Mmhm.” She kissed his stubbled chin. “Alex told me. Can’t just get you turned on and go for it with no lube, like you can with me.”

“Alex.” Michael’s nails dug into Maria’s back, his cock hard against her stomach. “Please, please move, please.”

“Not yet.” Alex pulled out again, and Michael cried out in frustration. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You _won’t_ , I can take it, please!”

“My pace or not at all.” Alex bit Michael’s shoulder. “Kiss him, Maria, give him something to do with that mouth.”

Maria laughed and slid a hand into Michael’s hair to pull his mouth down to hers. “You like him bossy,” she said between fierce kisses. “Don’t pretend you don’t.”

“Like you bossy too.” Michael groaned and broke away to pant against her jaw. “Oh fuck, fuck…almost like…I have a type.”

Alex snorted and shoved in deep with a thrust that drove Michael against Maria. “Oh, that’s hot,” she said without thinking, and Alex lifted his head specifically to smirk at her and slid an arm between her and Michael to hold Michael against him, rolling him forwards a little so Alex could start fucking him properly.

Michael’s weight was a little crushing on her side, Alex’s weight behind that an additional weight that would have pushed the breath out of Maria if she’d been properly underneath them. But staggered like this, with Michael shifting down to moan into her neck and the weight only pushing on her shoulder, arm, and leg, she could take it. She even kind of liked it, feeling how hard Alex was fucking Michael, feeling how much Michael liked it. He hitched his leg up over hers to get Alex deeper, and Alex had to pause to shift one of his legs between hers to keep going.

“That’s right,” she said, urging them on. “How close are you, babe?”

Michael made an incoherent, helpless sound in response, and Alex gasped into his shoulder, face completely hidden from Maria by Michael’s body. “Close,” Alex said. “When I fuck him wordless, he’s…ah…he’s close.”

“See how well he knows you?” Maria breathed into Michael’s hair. “He loves you so much, Michael. I love you so much. You want me to touch you?”

“Please.” Michael’s voice cracked, a beautiful, broken thing, and Maria pushed him back for a second so she could spit into her palm, and slide lower to wrap her hand around him. It was hard to get a grip for a second, with the way Michael’s body was jerking from the force of Alex’s thrusts. 

“Feel that?” Alex was saying, moaning into Michael’s skin. “You feel that? You’re _ours,_ we’ve got you, we’re fucking keeping you, you’re ours, Michael.”

Michael turned his face into Maria’s shoulder and moaned like he was dying. “Tell me how you want it,” she said, stroking him slowly, a cruel tease. “You wanna come? Or you want to make it last?”

“Last,” Michael gasped, shifting his hand so he was holding onto her tighter, pulling her up against him as Alex fucked him down. “Oh…oh, please…”

“Mmmmmmm.” Maria kissed his ear, another pulse of pleasure going through her. “That’s good, honey. You’re so good, you want this to just go on forever, is that right?”

“Yeah,” Michael choked out, nails digging into her back, and Maria loved it, loved feeling so sated and satisfied while Michael practically shook apart against her, Alex driving him out of his mind. “Yes, shit, Alex, _Alex_ –”

“I’ve got you,” Alex said, out of breath. “Sweetheart, Michael, you’re so good, you feel so good.”

“Alex,” Maria said, licking a stripe up Michael’s neck that made him whimper. “Can you get your hand in his hair from there?”

“Yeah.”

“Make him kiss me, I think he needs the help.”

She saw Alex grin, bright and savagely happy, and the way Michael looked as his head was pulled up was so hot she shivered through another curl of heat in the pit of her stomach. She loved Michael lost to pleasure like this, eyes glazed, lips wet and so red from the way he couldn’t stop biting them, shameless need in every line of his face. He tilted his chin without Alex needing to angle him and Maria swallowed his helpless, gorgeous sounds as she kissed him deeply, speeding her hand up on his dick.

Alex was echoing him a little now, his grunts of exertion taking on a gasping edge, his face flushed and hair wild. He looked beautiful, stunningly so, and Maria thought before she closed her eyes and kissed Michael again how lucky she was to be allowed to see him like this. It only took a few more tight strokes from Maria’s hand before Michael was crying out and coming, Alex cursing desperately over the sounds he was making.

“So good, Michael, you’re so good, fuck, you want – okay, okay.” Michael had reached back to grab onto Alex, Maria saw when she lifted her head, urging him to keep going. Alex’s eyes were screwed shut, mouth open against Michael’s shoulder, teeth digging in. “Want me to come in you?” he rasped. “That’s what you want? Anything you want, sweetheart, anything, anything for you, I love you, Michael, I love you, I love you…”

Maria watched, her heart racing, as Alex hid his face against Michael and came almost silently. His achingly hard thrusts went quick and deep, punching another sob out of Michael, who was holding onto Maria so tightly that she was sure she would bruise. She hoped she would. When Alex went still, Maria lowered her head to the pillow again and kissed Michael slowly. He could only kiss back after a couple of seconds, mouth slack and open.

“We’ve got you,” she murmured nonsensically. “There, honey. We’re here. We’re here.”

Michael made a soft, wanting sound, and Maria and Alex held onto him tightly, pressing him between their bodies. Maria wasn’t overly surprised when Michael’s body started to shake, and lifted her head to check Alex as she ran gentle fingers through Michael’s hair. Alex looked shocked, obviously not having expected actual tears despite his earlier teasing, and Maria pressed a finger from her other hand briefly over her lips. “We’ve got you,” she kept saying. “You’re okay, it’s okay.”

She saw Alex swallow, then press a kiss to the back of Michael’s neck. He might not know what to say, but he knew what to do, and that was just to keep holding Michael and gentling him with soft touches.

It took a few minutes for Michael to stop crying, or at least slow down into shuddery breathing. “First words outta your mouth better not be an apology,” Maria warned him. “You’re perfect, remember?”

Michael sniffed, and lifted his head a little so she could see the little curl at the edge of his mouth. “Want me to remind you of that next time I forget to do the washing up?”

Maria snorted, and on Michael’s other side Alex pulled him till he was lying on his back and they could look at each other. Maria couldn’t be bothered to lift her head to see what they were doing, but she heard the soft sounds of a kiss. Michael turned his head to look up at the ceiling and let out a heavy breath. “I love you.”

Maria snuggled against his side and smiled. “We love you too,” Alex said softly, his hand sliding across Michael’s chest to curl around the shoulder Maria had tucked her face against. She kissed his knuckles and grinned.

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I think that went really well.”

“Even the bit where I cried?” Michael asked, sounding kind of tense, and Maria wrapped her arm over his bare stomach and squeezed him.

“Hey, everyone cries during sex now and then. It’s not a bad thing.”

“Have you cried during sex before?” Alex asked, taken aback.

“Sure.” Maria shrugged. “At least twice. Three times, maybe. One of those times sucked, but the others were fine. I was just really emotional.”

“I’m definitely that right now,” Michael said, eyes falling closed. His eyelashes were still wet, and Maria could feel the little damp patch on the pillow under her neck. “I love you both so much. Fair warning, I’m gonna be saying that all night.”

“Fine by me,” Maria said.

“And me.” Alex hummed quietly. “Are we staying here for a bit?”

“Oh yeah.” Maria was already feeling heavy-eyed. “Nap-time, for sure.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can walk right now.” Michael breathed out on something that was almost a laugh, and Alex snorted as he sat up.

“I’ve fucked you harder and longer than that before.”

“Not with Maria though.” Michael looked up at him and lifted a hand very slowly to cup Alex’s cheek. 

“I’m just taking my leg off,” Alex whispered, reaching up to hold his hand over Michael’s and turning his head to kiss the heel of Michael’s palm. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good,” Michael said, quiet and far too serious. “I need you.”

The corners of Alex’s eyes creased with his smile almost before his lips curved up, and Maria swore she could feel the love welling out of him, thick and molten and all-consuming. He leaned down to kiss Michael gently, then twisted sideways to stand up, giving both Michael and Maria a fantastic view as he stretched.

“Damn,” Maria muttered, and Michael turned to grin at her. 

“Right?”

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Alex told them, going to get his spare crutches from the corner of the room and putting them in easy reach before pausing at the foot of the bed. “Maria, do you have any…I don’t know, tissues, or a washcloth or something?”

“Mmm…red cloth under the sink in my bathroom,” Maria said. “I put the tissues in the bedside table, hang on.” She sat up and smiled at Michael’s displeased huff as she reached around to get them. “We can get under the covers when we’re a bit cleaner,” she told him, and Michael sighed again and closed his eyes.

“I guess.”

She and Alex cleaned themselves and Michael up and manoeuvred him under the duvet for more cuddles, plastering themselves against his sides like before. Maria yawned and reached over to gently punch Alex’s shoulder. “We’re the best.”

“Seconded,” Michael mumbled. “Love you.”

“We know.” Alex kissed his cheek. “We love you too. Go to sleep, sweetheart. We’ve got you.”

Michael made a soft, happy sound that swelled Maria’s heart, and she fell asleep too, sated and warm against his side.

Maria woke to the smell of something delicious. “Mmm?” She’d rolled away from Michael, and when she rolled back her face ended up smushed against an unfamiliar arm. “Alex?”

“Hi.” He was on his stomach in his boxer-briefs, propped up on both elbows with his phone in his hand, a crooked smile on his face. “He’s insisting on bringing us breakfast in bed.”

“Is it breakfast time?” Maria asked, bewildered. It didn’t feel like she’d slept that long, and it was dark outside.

“No.” Alex grinned at her confusion. “But he’s in a pancake mood, and so am I, and we thought you might be too. Pancakes seemed like an appropriate post-threesome food.”

“They definitely are.” Maria couldn’t be bothered to sit up yet, so she curled up on her side and nudged Alex’s leg gently with her toe. “How long have we been asleep then?”

“Me, no time at all. Michael, about half an hour. You, about forty minutes, maybe forty-five.”

She yawned again and grimaced when she reached up to pat her hair. “Should’ve wrapped it. Damn.”

“It’s been less than an hour,” Alex said dryly. “It’s messy from sex, not sleep.”

“Ha.” Maria grinned at him. “Great sex. Like, ten out of ten sex. We’re sex gods.”

Alex cracked, laughing at her. “We’re pretty good,” he allowed. “Told you there’s no such thing as overplanning.”

“Yeah, and there’s something to be said for going with the flow too,” she smiled, nudging his leg again. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that dirty talk.”

“I’d hardly call that dirty talk,” Alex huffed.

“It was working pretty well.” She smirked at him. “Sex _gods._ Is Michael all hyperactive right now then?”

“A little bit.” Alex looked over at the door, pure fondness creeping over his expression. “I’m expecting a thank you speech at some point.”

“You think he’s practicing one right now?”

“Not his style.” Alex rolled his eyes affectionately. “He’ll think it up on the spot, and it’ll come out sounding perfect. I don’t know how he does it.”

“I bet he doesn’t overplan it,” Maria teased, and Alex leaned down to bump her shoulder with his.

“Shut up.”

“We’d better get up.” Maria rolled onto her back and groaned as she pulled herself up. “I’m not eating in bed. I have standards.”

“Wow, ouch.” Alex laughed and rolled up to sitting as well. “What’s wrong with eating in bed?”

“Crumbs and food in the sheets? Ew.” Maria gave an exaggerated shudder. “Absolutely not. Hey.” She looked at him, pausing. “Was it okay that I kissed you?”

Alex nodded, smiling slightly. “Going with the flow. It was okay.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then slid away to stand up on his foot, grabbing his crutches. Maria smiled as she got up and put her pyjamas on, fussing a little with her hair to get it lying straight again. Alex waited for her, and they went through to the kitchen and living room together.

Michael was only in his boxers too, and he smiled when he saw them. “You’re awake!”

“Good smells lured me out,” Maria grinned, going up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Table or couch?”

“Table.” Michael glanced over at Alex. “You guys sit down. You want anything to drink?”

“Just water. Thanks, babe.” Maria knew not to offer to get it herself – Michael wanted to give to them now, as though he hadn’t given so much of himself already. “So you’ve got the post-sex, post-nap hyperactivity going on?” she teased as she followed Alex to the table. “I love that.”

“You love it because it’s getting you pancakes,” Michael said archly, and she waved a hand.

“I love it because it’s cute _and_ because it’s getting me pancakes. I’m a woman of many sides.”

“Like a diamond,” Alex said as he lowered himself into a chair and put his crutches on the floor, out of the way.

“Ooh, keep going, keep going.” Maria flipped her hair, grinning, and Alex laughed.

Michael brought the pancakes over and sat at the head of the table, directly between her and Alex. “Dig in, I made…uh, kind of a lot.”

“Leftover pancakes is never a bad thing,” Maria told him, getting three off the biggest pile onto her own plate and reaching for the sugar. Under the table, she kicked one leg out and rubbed her foot over Michael’s, just wanting to have some contact. From the way he smiled at her, he didn’t seem to mind. “You’re the best,” she told him before eating her first mouthful, and his smile widened. On his other side, Alex scooted his chair a little closer and waited until Michael turned to face him. When he did, Alex leaned in to kiss him softly.

Maria watched, heart full, and beamed at the expressions on their faces as they parted. She loved them so much, she didn’t know what to do with herself. Alex’s eyes flicked over to her and his smile turned uncharacteristically shy. Michael leaned over to kiss his cheek as he settled back into his seat, and Alex grinned at him. 

They settled on the couch afterwards under two blankets spread between them. Michael half lying against Alex’s chest, Maria hugging his legs against her chest, over her lap. The dishes were in the sink, left for tomorrow, and Ocean’s 8 was playing on the TV. Alex played with Michael’s hair; the only thing they’d discovered that could make him stay still for any length of time. The constant repetitive motions of fingers in his curls, rubbing against his scalp, turned Michael to putty.

Maria couldn’t stop touching him either, stroking his legs, squeezing his ankles, sliding her hands up under his shirt to smooth over his stomach and chest. Michael’s eyes kept falling closed, the occasional sigh of pure contentment heaving his chest. Any time he caught either of their hands in his, he kissed them, like he was thanking them for their attention.

As the credits rolled, Michael stretched and yawned, then folded back into himself, pressing his face into Alex’s neck and squeezing Maria’s hand. “Hey.” Alex kissed his head. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Michael kissed his collarbone and darted a soft look at Maria. “Never thought I’d have anything like this.” He swallowed. “People taking care of me. I never had any good birthdays before you two.”

A classic Guerinism, breaking both their hearts while he just tried to tell them how he felt. Cracking his chest open and offering them his heart so earnestly it was enough to bring Maria to tears. She hugged his legs as tightly as she could with one arm, squeezing his hand back as Alex wrapped both his arms around Michael’s shoulders and hugged him too, like both of them were trying to press the weight of their love into his body. “Get used to it,” Alex said, his voice a little rough. “Neither of us are going anywhere.”

Maria nodded. “We wanted to show you,” she said, trying to find the words. Michael needed the actions, but he needed the words too, even if it wasn’t so obvious at first. “There’s no one else in the world like you, Michael. You make us better. You’re perfect for us.”

“You belong with us,” Alex said quietly, and Michael rubbed his free hand quickly over his face, lowering it to grip Alex’s wrist while tugging at Maria with his other hand to get her to lean even closer. She pushed his knees down and twisted out from under him, shifting to lie on top so he could hug her as Alex hugged him.

It was a very warm hug after a few seconds, but Maria didn’t move until Michael did. “Bed?” Alex asked, and she lifted her head to see Michael nod, smiling in a wobbly sort of way. He and Maria got up and folded the blankets as Alex rolled upright, picking up his crutches and getting stable on his foot.

The mood lightened as they got ready for bed, brushing their teeth and taking turns to finish up in Maria’s bathroom before they fell back into bed, Michael in the middle once more. Maria turned the lights out as Michael kissed Alex, then turned to kiss her as she lay down next to him. “Bet you’ll sleep well tonight,” she teased, and he grinned against her lips.

“I’ve been half-asleep since you finished with me. Good thing I’m not meeting Max and Isobel till eleven – I’m gonna be sex-stupid all morning, I can tell.”

“Go to sleep, Michael,” Alex smiled on his other side, and as if on cue, Michael gave a huge yawn that set Maria off too, and Alex a second later.

“Kay.” He settled back, a tiny smile just visible in the dark. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Alex murmured, and Maria closed her eyes and smiled.

“Love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ordinal
> 
> i like the phrase _devil's  
>  threesome_ because it implies to me  
> the existence of a spiritual ranking  
> of threesomes
> 
> i looked into a mirror that said  
> meet the person most responsible  
> for your safety  
> and that felt like a lot  
> of pressure
> 
> ideally  
> i would like to be standing  
> between two large men  
> with safe hands and  
> the devil watching
> 
> merritt k (2017)
> 
> I subscribe to a tinyletter called Pome which sends me a poem every day (highly recommend!) and this was November 14th's. I think I kept it in my inbox with the idea to use a line from it for the title of the original malexa fic, and forgot when I posted it, which is typical for me. But I've gotten a use out of it now! Thank fuck for smutty epilogues.


End file.
